falseadjective
uk/fɒls/us/fɑːls/false adjective (NOT REAL)
B2 not real, but made to look or seem real:
More examples
- He disguised himself by shaving his head and wearing a false beard.
- false limbs
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
True, real, false, and unreal
- actual
- actuality
- actually
- all that glitters is not gold idiom
- apocryphal
- fairy tale
- faithful
- falsely
- fictional
- fictitious
- glitter
- gritty
- nominal
- pretend
- proper
- properly
- properly speaking idiom
- pukka
- realistic
- well founded
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false adjective (NOT TRUE)
B1 disapproving not true, but made to seem true in order to deceive people:
If you do something under false pretences, you lie about who you are, what you are doing, or what you intend to do, in order to get something:
More examples
- The politician was awarded £50 000 damages over false allegations made by the newspaper.
- The two men allege that the police forced them to make false confessions.
- His accusations were false, but they served to besmirch her reputation.
- Their promises lulled us into a false sense of security.
- The government's claim that it would reduce taxes proved false.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Faking & pretending
- a wolf in sheep's clothing idiom
- affect
- assume
- believe
- bluff
- changeling
- charlatan
- feign
- fraud
- go through the motions idiom
- guise
- impostor
- play at sth
- play possum idiom
- play sth out
- play-acting
- pose as sb
- professed
- purport
- quack
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false adjective (NOT CORRECT)
B1 not correct:
More examples
- It is an illogical statement, because if one part is true, then the other must be false.
- Your actions are based on some false presuppositions.
- That theory was proved false.
- My fears about the job turned out to be false.
- Teams will lose two points for any false answers.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Wrong
- aberrant
- abnormal
- amiss
- anomaly
- awry
- bark
- gross
- grossly
- have no business doing sth idiom
- imprecise
- impropriety
- inaccurate
- invalid 1
- irregular
- misspeak
- mistaken
- off beam
- quarrel with sth
- speak
- speak too soon idiom
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false adjective (NOT SINCERE)
C1 disapproving not sincere or expressing real emotions:
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Affected & insincere
- affectation
- affected
- artificial
- artsy-fartsy
- arty-farty
- cheesy
- forced
- glib
- histrionic
- histrionics
- hokey
- meretricious
- pious
- precocious
- pretension
- pretentious
- pseud
- pseudo-
- slick
- theatrical
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false adjective (NOT LOYAL)
literary disapproving A false friend is not loyal or cannot be trusted.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Disloyalty, betrayal & treason
- adultery
- backstabber
- betray
- betrayal
- break ranks idiom
- collaborate
- deserter
- desertion
- double-cross
- faithless
- fifth column
- high treason
- inconstant
- sellout
- stab
- stab sb in the back idiom
- traitor
- treacherous
- treachery
- treason
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